Method and an apparatus of an inspection system using an electron beam

ABSTRACT

Problems encountered in the conventional inspection method and the conventional apparatus adopting the method are solved by the present invention using an electron beam by providing a novel inspection method and an inspection apparatus adopting the novel method which are capable of increasing the speed to scan a specimen such as a semiconductor wafer. 
     The inspection novel method provided by the present invention comprises the steps of: generating an electron beam; converging the generated electron beam on a specimen by using an objective lens; scanning the specimen by using the converged electron beam; continuously moving the specimen during scanning; detecting charged particles emanating from the specimen at a location between the specimen and the objective lens and converting the detected charged particles into an electrical signal; storing picture information conveyed by the electrical signal; comparing a picture with another by using the stored picture information; and detecting a defect of the specimen.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/108,877 filed Apr. 19,2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,252, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 10/083,481 filed Feb. 27, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,987,265,which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/883,184, filed Jun.19, 2001, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,178 on Sep. 17, 2002,which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/131,383 filed Aug. 7,1998, which issued as U.S. Pat. 6,348,690 on Feb. 19, 2002.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

In general, the present invention relates to an inspection method usingan electron beam and an inspection apparatus adopting the method. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to an inspection methodusing an electron beam suitably for inspecting a pattern such as acircuit on a substrate in a process of fabricating a semiconductordevice and an inspection apparatus adopting the method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There exists an apparatus for observing a specimen by using an electronbeam which is known as a scanning electron microscope referred tohereafter simply as an SEM. In addition, as one of apparatuses forinspecting a semiconductor device, there is known a scanning electronmicroscope for length measurement referred to as a length measurementSEM. However, while the ordinary SEM and the length measurement SEM aresuited for observation of a limited field of vision at a highmagnification, they are unsuitable for finding the location of a defecton a wafer. This is because, in order to find the location of a defecton a wafer, it is necessary to search an extremely large area of thewafer or the entire surface of the wafer with a high degree of scrutiny.It takes a very long time to search such an extremely large area byusing an ordinary or length measurement SEM because the current of theelectron beam thereof is small, resulting in a slow scanning speed. As aresult, if such SEMs are used in a process to fabricate a semiconductordevice, the time it takes to complete the processing steps becomes verylong, making the SEMs apparatuses of no practical use.

As an apparatus used for solving the problems described above, there isknown an inspection apparatus using an electron beam for detecting adefect on a wafer by comparison of pictures. The apparatus ischaracterized in that: a large current electron beam is used; a specimenstage is continuously moved while the electron beam is being radiated toa specimen; a high acceleration voltage is used to accelerate theelectron beam generated by an electron source; a retarding voltage isapplied to the specimen to reduce the speed of the electron beam so asto prevent the specimen from being electrically-charged; and chargedparticles emanating from the specimen due to the radiation of theelectron beam are detected after passing through an objective lens in aso-called TTL (through the lens) system.

As a result, the apparatus described above allows a mask or a pattern ona wafer serving as a specimen to be inspected for a defect with a higherdegree of efficiency than the conventional SEM. It should be noted thatthis related technology is disclosed in documents such as JapanesePatent Laid-open No. Hei 5-258703.

With the TTL system whereby charged particles emanating from a specimenare detected after passing through an objective lens, the distance fromthe specimen to the objective lens can be shortened. As a result, theobjective lens can be used at a short focal distance, allowing theamount of aberration of the electron beam to be reduced and, hence, ahigh-resolution picture to be obtained. On the other hand, the TTLsystem brings about unnegligible problems such as a hindrance to theimprovement of the scanning speed and a big rotation change of theelectron beam accompanying a variation in specimen height, causing aresulting picture to rotate as well.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a relation between the retarding voltageand the efficiency of detection of secondary electrons. Curve (2) showsa relation for the TTL system. As shown by curve (2), the TTL system hasa problem that, as the retarding voltage is reduced, the efficiency ofdetection of secondary electrons also decreases to such a small valuethat the problem caused by a low detection efficiency can not be ignoredanymore. Secondary electrons emanating from a specimen converge afterpassing through a magnetic field of an objective lens. The position ofconvergence in the axial direction changes when the retarding voltage ismodified due to a variation in electron beam radiation energy. Thisphenomenon is the main reason why the efficiency of detection ofsecondary electrons decreases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is thus a first object of the present invention to provide aninspection method capable of increasing the speed of scanning a specimenusing an electron beam and an inspection system adopting the method.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide an inspectionmethod using an electron beam resulting in a small picture rotation andan inspection system adopting the method.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide an inspectionmethod using an electron beam resulting in a small change in efficiencyof detection of charged particles and an inspection system adopting themethod.

In a configuration of the present invention, an electron beam generatedby an electron source is converged on a specimen by means of anobjective lens; the specimen is scanned by using the electron beam; andcharged particles emanating from the specimen due to the scanningoperation are detected by means of a charged particle detector providedbetween the specimen and the objective lens.

In another configuration of the present invention, an electron beamgenerated by an electron source is converged so as to generate acrossover and the electron beam is converged on a specimen by means ofan objective lens provided between the crossover and the specimen; thespecimen is scanned by using the electron beam; and charged particlesemanating from the specimen due to the scanning operation are detectedby means of a charged particle detector provided between the specimenand the objective lens.

In still another configuration of the present invention, an electronbeam generated by an electron source is converged so as to generate acrossover while the electron beam is being converged on a specimen bymeans of an objective lens provided between the crossover and thespecimen; the specimen is scanned by using the electron beam while thespecimen is being moved continuously; and charged particles emanatingfrom the specimen due to the scanning operation are detected by means ofa charged particle detector provided between the specimen and theobjective lens.

Then, charged particles detected by the charged particle detector areconverted into an electrical signal conveying picture information andpictures are compared with each other on the basis of the pictureinformation in order to detect a defect.

The comparison of pictures to detect a defect as described aboveincludes comparison of a picture of an area on a specimen with a pictureof another area on the same specimen and comparison of a picture of a anarea on a specimen with a reference picture provided in advance.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a voltagefor decelerating an electron beam is applied to a specimen. The voltageworks as an acceleration voltage for charged particles emanating fromthe specimen, causing the charged particles to tend to form parallelbeams.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention,charged particles emanating from the specimen are deflected by adeflection electric field and a deflection magnetic field which aresubstantially orthogonal to each other in the same direction. The amountof deflection of an electron beam radiated to a specimen by thedeflection electric field and the amount of deflection of the electronbeam by the deflection magnetic field are substantially equal to eachother in magnitude but have mutually opposite directions so that one ofthe deflections cancels the other. As a result, a disturbance todeflection of an electron beam, that is radiated to the specimen, causedby the deflection electric field and the deflection magnetic field doesnot substantially exist.

According to still another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, since charged particles are detected without passing throughan objective lens, unlike the TTL system, even if a retarding voltage isreduced, the efficiency of detection of secondary electrons does notdecrease and, in addition, the rotation of a picture can be made small.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention,secondary electrons of charged particles emanating from a specimen areradiated to a conductive secondary-electron generating substance forfurther generating secondary electrons to be detected by a chargedparticle detector.

According to a still further preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, an electron beam is put in a blanked state with a crossoverof the electron beam serving as a fulcrum. If the electron beam isparallel beams with no crossover, the position of radiation of theblanked electron beam on a specimen changes, giving rise to a problemthat an area adjacent to a radiation area is electrically chargedinadvertently. In the case of this embodiment, however, since theelectron beam is put in a blanked state with a crossover thereof servingas a fulcrum, the position of radiation of the electron beam on thespecimen does not change, allowing the problem to be solved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the present invention will be described by referring tothe following diagrams wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the configuration of aninspection system using an electron beam as implemented by an embodimentof the present invention in a simple and plain manner;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a flow of a general process offabricating a semiconductor device;

FIGS. 3( a) and 3(b) are diagrams each showing an example of a pictureobtained as a result of observation of a circuit pattern on asemiconductor wafer by means of an SEM in a process of fabrication of asemiconductor device;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for inspecting a circuitpattern created on a semiconductor wafer;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a plan view of a wafer seen from a positionabove the wafer;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged diagram showing a portion of the wafer shown inFIG. 5;

FIGS. 7( a) and 7(b) are conceptual diagrams showing a blanked state ofan electron beam;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged diagram similar to FIG. 6 showing a portion of thewafer shown in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 9( a) to 9(c) are diagrams showing pictures to be compared witheach other and a result of the comparison;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a relation between the picture acquisitiontime per cm² and the measurement time per pixel;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a relation between the picture acquisitiontime per cm² and the current of an electron beam;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a relation between the diameter of anelectron beam and the acceleration voltage; and

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing relations between the efficiency ofdetection of secondary electrons and the retarding voltage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will become more apparent from a careful study ofthe following detailed description of a preferred embodiment withreference to the accompanying diagrams.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a flow of a general process offabricating a semiconductor device. As is obvious from the figure, in aprocess of fabricating semiconductor devices, steps 51 to 55 arerepeated to create a number of patterns of semiconductor devices onwafers. Each of the steps to create a pattern comprises roughly a filmcreation step 56, a resist coating step 57, an exposure step 58, adevelopment step 59, an etching step 60, a resist removing step 61 and acleaning step 62. A circuit pattern will not be created normally on thewafer unless fabrication conditions are optimized at each of the steps.

External inspection steps 63 and 64 to inspect a circuit pattern areprovided between the steps described above. When a defect is detected asa result of the inspections carried out at the steps 63 and 64, theresult of the inspections is reflected in a step in the process whichhas generated the defect so that generation of similar defects can besuppressed. The result of the inspection is reflected typically byletting a defect control system 65 shown in FIG. 2 transmit data topieces of fabrication equipment of the steps 56, 57, 58 and 59 of theprocess where fabrication conditions are changed automatically inaccordance with the data.

FIGS. 3( a) and 3(b) are diagrams each showing an example of a picture70 obtained as a result of observation of a circuit pattern on asemiconductor wafer by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) ina process of fabrication of a semiconductor device. To be more specific,FIG. 3( a) is a diagram showing a circuit pattern obtained as a normalresult of a fabrication process and FIG. 3( b) is a diagram showing acircuit pattern with a fabrication defect. For example, when anabnormality is resulted in at the film creation step 56 shown in FIG. 2,particles are stuck to the surface of a semiconductor wafer, becoming anisolated defect A on the picture shown in FIG. 3( b). In addition, whenfabrication conditions such as the focus and the exposure time at theexposure step 58 following the resist coating step 57 are not optimum,there will be generated spots at which the intensity and quantity oflight radiated to the resist are either excessive or insufficient,resulting in a short C, a disconnection E, a thinning or an omission Don the picture shown in FIG. 3( b). If a defect results on a reticule ora mask at the exposure step 58, a shape abnormality of the pattern willbe prone to generation.

In addition, if the amount of etching is not optimized or if a thin filmor particles are generated at the etching step 60, a bad aperture G isalso generated besides the short C, a protrusion B and the isolateddefect A. At the cleaning step 62, abnormal oxidation is apt to occur atplaces like a pattern corner due to draining conditions during a dryingprocess, resulting in a thin film residual F which is difficult toobserve by means of an optical microscope.

Thus, in a wafer fabrication process, it is necessary to optimizefabrication conditions so that these kinds of defect are not generatedand to early detect a generated abnormality and to feed back informationon the defect to a step at which the abnormality has been generated.

As described above, in order to detect a defect like the one describedabove, external inspections 63 and 64 are typically carried out afterthe development step 59 and the resist removing step 61 respectively asshown in FIG. 2. In these external inspections, an inspection apparatusof the present invention using an electron beam is used.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the configuration of aninspection system using an electron beam as implemented by theembodiment of the present invention in a simple and plain manner.

In the inspection system shown in FIG. 1, an electron gun 1 comprises anelectron source 2, a drawing electrode 3 and an acceleration electrode4. A drawing voltage V1 is generated between the electron source 2 andthe drawing electrode 3 by a drawing power supply 5 to draw an electronbeam 36 from the electron source 2. The acceleration electrode 4 issustained at the earth electric potential. An acceleration voltage Vaccis generated between the acceleration electrode 4 and the electronsource 2 by an acceleration power source 6 to accelerate the electronbeam 36.

The accelerated electron beam 36 is converged by a first convergencelens 8 so as to generate a crossover 10 between the first convergencelens 8 and an objective lens 9 which serves as a second convergencelens. The first and second convergence lenses 8 and 9 are connected to alens power supply 7. The electron beam 36 is further converged by theobjective lens 9 on a specimen 13 such as a semiconductor wafer placedon a specimen stage 12 which can be moved horizontally by a stagedriving unit not shown in the figure and a length measuring unit 11 forposition monitoring use. That is to say, the converged electron beam 36is radiated to the specimen 13. The configuration described above isaccommodated in a container 43 which sustains a vacuum environmentappropriate for radiation of the electron beam 36.

A negative voltage is applied to the specimen 13 as a retarding voltagefor decelerating the electron beam 36 by a variable deceleration powersupply 14. A voltage is further applied by an electrode 34 in thepositive direction to the specimen 13. The electrode 34 is providedbetween the specimen 13 and the objective lens 9. Thus, the electronbeam 36 is decelerated by the retarding voltage. Normally, the electrode34 is set at the earth electric potential and the retarding voltage canbe changed arbitrarily by adjusting the variable deceleration powersupply 14.

A diaphragm 15 is provided between the first convergence lens 8 and thecrossover 10 whereas a diaphragm 41 is provided between the crossover 10and an electron beam scanning deflector 16. The diaphragms 15 and 41shield excessive electrons and are also useful for determination of anangular aperture of the electron beam 36.

Provided between the crossover 10 and the objective lens 9, the electronbeam scanning deflector 16 has a function to deflect the convergedelectron beam 36 so as to let the electron beam 36 scan the specimen 13.The electron beam scanning deflector 16 is provided inside the objectivelens 9 at such a position that a fulcrum of the deflection thereofsubstantially coincides with the center of a magnetic pole gap of theobjective lens 9. As a result, the amount of deflection distortion canbe reduced.

Provided between the diaphragm 15 and the electron beam scanningdeflector 16, a blanking deflector 17 is used for deflecting andblanking the electron beam 36 at a position where the crossover 10 iscreated. The blanking deflector 17 is connected to a scanning-signalgenerating unit 24.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for inspecting a circuitpattern created on a semiconductor wafer by using an inspection systemprovided by the present invention.

First of all, the specimen 13 is mounted on the specimen stage 12 and,then, the specimen stage 12 is moved to the inside of the container 41.Subsequently, air is exhausted from a specimen inspection chamber insidethe container 41 to put the chamber in a vacuum state and a retardingvoltage is applied to the specimen 13.

When the specimen 13 is scanned by using the converged electron beam 36,reflected electrons and secondary electrons 33, charged particles,emanate from the specimen 13. The secondary electrons 33 are defined aselectrons each having an energy of 50 eV or smaller.

Since positive and negative directions of the secondary electrons 33 arejust opposite to those of the electron beam 36 radiated to the specimen13, the retarding voltage generated to decelerate the electron beam 36works as an acceleration voltage for the secondary electrons 33. Thus,since the secondary electrons 33 are accelerated by the retardingvoltage, the directions of the secondary electrons are uniform. As aresult, the secondary electrons 33 form substantially parallel beamsentering an E×B (E Cross B) deflector 18 which is provided between thespecimen 13 and the objective lens 9.

Provided with a deflection electric-field generator for generating adeflection electric field for deflecting the secondary electrons 33, theE×B deflector 18 also includes a deflection magnetic-field generator forgenerating a deflection magnetic field for canceling the deflection ofthe electron beam 36 radiated to the specimen 13 by the deflectionelectric field. The deflection magnetic field is generated in adirection perpendicular to the direction of the deflection electricfield. Therefore, the deflection electric field works to deflect thesecondary electrons 33 in almost the same direction as the deflectionmagnetic field. Thus, the deflection electric field and the deflectionmagnetic field generated by the E×B deflector 18 deflect the acceleratedsecondary electrons 33 without having a bad effect on the electron beam36 radiated to the specimen 13 because of the mutual cancellation.

In order to sustain each of the deflection angles at a substantiallyfixed value, the deflection electric field and the deflection magneticfield generated by the E×B deflector 18 can be changed in a wayinterlocked with a variation in retarding voltage. Used for generating adeflection electric field and a deflection magnetic field, the E×Bdeflector 18 is also referred to as a deflectionelectric-field/deflection magnetic-field generator in some cases.

The secondary electrons 33 deflected by the deflection electric fieldand the deflection magnetic field generated by the E×B deflector 18 areradiated to a secondary-electron generating substance 19, colliding withthe secondary-electron generating substance 19. The secondary-electrongenerating substance 19 is provided between the objective lens 9 and theE×B deflector 18 around the axis of the electron beam 36. Thesecondary-electron generating substance 19 has a shape resembling a conewith the lateral cross-sectional area thereof increasing along the axisin the direction toward the electron gun 1. The secondary-electrongenerating substance 19 is made of CuBeO and has a capability ofgenerating second secondary electrons 20 five times the hittingsecondary electrons in number. The second secondary electrons 20emanating from the secondary-electron generating substance 19 which eachhave an energy of 50 eV or smaller are detected by a charged particledetector 21, being converted into an electrical signal.

The height of the specimen 13 is measured by an optical specimen-heightmeasurement unit 22 in a real-time manner and the measured height is fedback to the lens power supply 7 through a correction control circuit 23for correcting the focal distance of the objective lens 9 dynamically.In addition, the position of radiation of the electron beam 36 on thespecimen 13 is detected by a length measurement unit 11 for positionmonitoring and the detected radiation position is fed back to ascanning-signal generation unit 24 through the correction controlcircuit 23 for controlling the position of radiation of the electronbeam 36 on the specimen 13.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a plan view of a semiconductor wafer 44, anexample of the specimen 13, as seen from a position above the wafer 44and FIG. 6 is an enlarged diagram showing a portion of the wafer 44shown in FIG. 5. The wafer 44 is continuously moved by a stage drivingunit not shown in the figure in the y direction of x-y coordinates asindicated by an arrow y. On the other hand, an operation to scan thewafer 44 by using the electron beam 36 is carried out in the x directionindicated by an arrow x. The scanning operation comprises actualscanning sweeps and a blanked-state sweeps in the x direction which arerepeated alternately.

In order to radiate the electron beam 36 to correct positions on thewafer 44 with correct timing, during a fly-back period of the scanningoperation, that is, during a blanked-state sweep, the electron beam 36is deflected and blanked by means of the blanking deflector 17 shown inFIG. 1 so that the electron beam 36 is not directed toward the wafer 44.

An operation to scan the wafer 44 by using the electron beam 36 isstarted at a point A shown in FIG. 5 and carried out till a point B.While the scanning operation is being carried out, the wafer 44 is movedalong with the specimen stage 12 in the y direction. Then, between thepoint B and a point A′, the electron beam 36 is put in a blanked stateas shown by a dashed line prior to resumption of the scanning from thepoint A′ to a point B′. For more information refer to FIG. 6. Whilerepeating the actual scanning and blanked-state sweeps alternately inthis way, a scanning operation is continued to a line between points Cand D.

After the scanning operation from the point A to the point C on thewafer 44 has been completed, the wafer 44 is moved to the left in the xdirection by a distance equal to the scanning width w, shifting theposition of radiation from the point C to a point D. Then, the scanningoperation by using the electron beam 36 from the point A to the point Cis repeated now from the point D to the point B by repeating the actualscanning and blanked-state sweeps alternately while the wafer 44 isbeing moved this time in the y direction. After the scanning operationfrom the point D to the point B on the wafer 44 has been completed, thewafer 44 is moved to the left in the x direction by a distance equal tothe scanning width w, shifting the position of radiation from the pointB to a point F.

By repeating the scanning operations from the point A to the point Fdescribed above, the entire surface of the wafer 44 is scanned by usingthe electron beam 36.

FIGS. 7( a) and 7(b) are conceptual diagrams showing a blanked state ofthe electron beam 36 shown in FIG. 1.

In the present embodiment, the electron beam 36 shown in FIG. 1 is putin a blanked state with the crossover 10 of the electron beam 36 takenas a fulcrum as shown in FIG. 7( a). If the electron beam 36 isdeflected with a point other than the crossover 10 taken as a fulcrum inorder to put the electron beam 36 in a blanked state, the position ofradiation of the electron beam 36 on the wafer 44 is inadvertentlyshifted during the deflection. FIG. 7( b) is a diagram showing a case inwhich the electron beam 36 is parallel beams. In this case, when theelectron beam 36 is put in a blanked state, there results in a beam thatcan not be shielded by the diaphragm 41 during the blanking operation.Such a beam is inadvertently radiated to a small adjacent region whichis not supposed to be exposed to the beam. As a result, during theblanking operation, an area naturally not supposed to experienceradiation by the electron beam 36 is inadvertently exposed to theelectron beam 36 to result in a wrong picture. In order to solve thisproblem, in the embodiment of the present invention, the electron beam36 is deflected with the crossover 10 taken as a fulcrum during ablanking operation. As a result, the position of radiation of theelectron beam 36 on the wafer 44 can be prevented from being shifted,making it possible to avoid an incorrect resulting picture.

The scanning operation of the specimen 13 or the wafer 44 by using theelectron beam 36 is carried out by deflecting the electron beam 36 inthe x direction while continuously moving the specimen 13 or the wafer44 in the y direction. Instead of repeating actual scanning andblanked-state sweeps alternately as described above, consecutive actualscanning sweeps can be carried out back and forth. In this case, thesweeping speed in an onward deflection is set at a value equal to thesweeping speed in a retreat deflection. In such a scheme, the blankingdeflector 17 can be eliminated and the scanning time can be shortened byperiods required to blank the electron beam 36. In this case, however,care must be exercised as follows.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged diagram similar to FIG. 6 showing scanningdirections of the electron beam 36 on a portion of the wafer 44 shown inFIG. 5. The end and start points B and B′ of a back-and-forth deflectionof the electron beam 36 on the wafer 44 are exposed to the focusedelectron beam 36 radiated thereto during a short period of time. To putit in detail, at the end point B of a scanning sweep in the x directionfrom the left to the right, the movement of the electron beam 36 in thex direction is halted to wait for the position of radiation to beshifted to the start point B′ by a movement of the wafer 44 in the ydirection by a distance equal to the scanning width. After the positionof radiation has been shifted to the start point B′, the position ofradiation is moved from the right to the left in the x direction. Duringthe period of time to wait for the position of radiation to be shiftedin the y direction to the start point B′, the radiation of the electronbeam 36 is continued in the y direction along a distance on the wafer 44from an area centering at the end point B to an area centering at thestart point B′. For this reason, in the case of a specimen 13 exhibitingan electrically charging phenomenon with an extremely short timeconstant, the brightness of a picture taken from these areas will not beuniform. In order to make the amount of radiation provided by theelectron beam 36 substantially uniform over the entire surface of thewafer 44, the scanning speed of the electron beam 36 is controlled sothat the speed along a line between the points B and B′ is set at avalue higher than the speed along a line between the points A and Bshown in FIG. 8.

Next, picture processing carried out by a picture processing unit 42shown in FIG. 1 is explained.

The picture processing unit 42 detects a defect on the specimen 13 froman electrical signal supplied by the charged particle detector 21 by wayof an amplifier 25 and an A/D converter 26. To put it in detail, thepicture processing unit 42 detects the number of second secondaryelectrons and converts the number of second secondary electrons into anelectrical signal which is amplified by the amplifier 25 before beingconverted by the A/D converter 26 into digital data. The digital data isstored in storage units 27 and 28 employed in the picture processingunit 42 as a picture signal. To put it concretely, first of all, apicture signal representing the number of second secondary electronscorresponding to a first inspection area on the wafer 44 is stored inthe storage unit 27.

Then, a picture signal representing the number of second secondaryelectrons corresponding to a second inspection area on the wafer 44adjacent to the first inspection area with the same circuit pattern isstored in the storage unit 28 while, at the same time, the picturesignal for the second inspection area is being compared with the picturesignal for the first inspection area. Subsequently, a picture signalrepresenting the number of second secondary electrons corresponding to athird inspection area on the wafer 44 is stored in the storage unit 27while, at the same time, the picture signal for the third inspectionarea is being compared with the picture signal for the second inspectionarea stored in the storage unit 28. These operations are repeated tostore and compare picture signals for all inspection areas on the wafer44. It should be noted that a picture signal stored in the storage unit28 is displayed on a monitor 32.

A picture signal is compared with another picture signal by a processingunit 29 and a defect judgment unit 30 shown in FIG. 1. The processingunit 29 computes a variety of statistics such as averages of pictureconcentration values, variances and differences among peripheral pixelsfor secondary-electron picture signals stored in the storage units 27and 28 on the basis of defect judgment conditions already found. Picturesignals completing the processing carried out by the processing unit 29are supplied to the defect judgment unit 30 to be compared with eachother to extract a difference signal. The defect judgment conditionsfound and stored in memory before are referred to in order to split thedifference signal into a defect signal and a signal other than thedefect signal.

FIGS. 9( a) to 9(c) are diagrams showing pictures 70 to be compared witheach other in an example of comparison and a result of the comparison.To be more specific, FIG. 9( a) shows a secondary-electron picturesignal stored in the storage unit 27 and FIG. 9( b) shows asecondary-electron picture signal stored in the storage unit 28. Ifpicture 1 shown in FIG. 9( a) is subtracted from picture 2 shown in FIG.9( b), a difference picture representing a defect shown in FIG. 9( c) isobtained.

As an alternative, a picture signal representing the number of secondsecondary electrons corresponding to an inspection area of a circuitpattern used as a standard is stored in the storage unit 27 and, then, apicture signal representing the number of second secondary electronscorresponding to an inspection area of a circuit pattern on the specimen13 is stored in the storage unit 28 while, at the same time, the picturesignal for the inspection area on the specimen 13 is being compared withthe picture signal for the standard circuit pattern stored in thestorage unit 27. To put in detail, first of all, an inspection area anda desired inspection condition for a good semiconductor device are inputfrom a control unit 31 and the inspection area of the good semiconductordevice is then inspected under the inspection condition. Then, asecondary-electron picture signal for the desired inspection area isfetched and stored in the storage unit 27. Subsequently, the specimen 13serving as an inspection target is inspected in the same way as the goodsemiconductor device and a secondary-electron picture signal for thespecimen 13 is fetched and stored in the storage unit 28. At the sametime, the secondary-electron picture for the specimen 13 is comparedwith the secondary-electron picture of the good semiconductor devicestored in the storage unit 27 after the position of the former isadjusted to the latter to detect a defect.

As the good semiconductor device used in the above alternative method, agood portion of the specimen 13, or a good wafer or a good chip otherthan the specimen 13 can be used. In the specimen 13, for example, adefect may be generated due to a shift generated in adjustment of alower-layer pattern and an upper-layer pattern in creation of a circuitpattern. If a circuit pattern is compared with another circuit patternon the same wafer or the same chip, defects generated uniformly over theentire wafer like the defect described above are overlooked. If thepicture signal for the specimen 13 is compared with a picture signal fora good device stored in advance, on the other hand, the defectsgenerated uniformly over the entire wafer can also be detected.

The control unit 31 shown in FIG. 1 issues an operation instruction tocomponents of the inspection system and sets conditions for thecomponents. Thus, a variety of conditions including information on anacceleration voltage, a deflection width (or a scanning width) and adeflection speed (or a scanning speed) of the electron beam, a movementspeed of the specimen stage and timing to fetch a signal output by thedetector are supplied to the control unit 31 in advance.

The following is a description of differences between the inspectionsystem using an electron beam according to the present invention and theconventional scanning electron microscope referred to hereafter simplyas an SEM. In the following description, the inspection system using anelectron beam according to the present invention is referred tohereafter simply as the present inspection system for the sake ofconvenience.

An SEM is an apparatus used for observing a very limited area, forexample, an area of several tens of square μm at a high magnificationover a relatively long period of observation time. Even with a lengthmeasurement scanning electron microscope referred to hereafter simply asa length measurement SEM, one of semiconductor inspection apparatuses,the user is capable of doing no more than observation and measurement ofonly a limited plurality of points on a wafer. On the other hand, thepresent inspection apparatus is equipment for searching a specimen suchas a wafer for a location on the specimen at which a defect exists.Thus, since the present inspection apparatus has to inspect an extremelylarge area in every nook and corner, the fact that the inspection mustbe carried out at a high speed is an important requirement.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a relation between the picture acquisitiontime per cm² and the measurement time per pixel and FIG. 11 is a diagramshowing a relation between the picture acquisition time per cm² and thecurrent of an electron beam.

In general, an S/N ratio of an electron beam picture has a correlationwith the square root of the number of radiated electrons per pixel in anelectron beam radiated to a specimen. A defect to be detected from aspecimen is such an infinitesimal defect that inspection by pixelcomparison is desirable. From the size of a pattern to be inspected,assume that the demanded resolution of the inspection system is set at avalue of the order of 0.1 μm. In this case, the pixel size is also about0.1 μm. From this point of view and experiences gained by the inventors,it is desirable to have a raw picture prior to picture processing withan S/N ratio of at least 10 after detection by a charged particledetector. On the other hand, the length of an inspection time requiredin inspection of circuit patterns on a wafer is generally about 200sec/cm². If the length of a time required only for acquisition of apicture is about half the inspection time which is about 100 sec/cm²,the measurement time of 1 pixel is equal to or smaller than 10 nsec asshown in FIG. 10. In this case, since the number of electrons requiredper pixel is 6,000, it is necessary to set the electron beam current atat least 100 nA as shown in FIG. 11. In the case of an SEM or a lengthmeasurement SEM, even a slow picture acquisition time per pixel does notgive rise to a problem in the practical use. Thus, an electron beamcurrent of several hundreds of pA or smaller can be used as shown inFIG. 11.

Taking the things described above into consideration, in the embodimentof the present invention, the current of an electron beam radiated to aspecimen, the pixel size, the spot size of the electron beam on thespecimen and the continuous movement speed of the specimen stage 12 areset at 100 nA, 0.1 μm, 0.08 μm (a value smaller than the resolution of0.1 μm) and 10 mm/sec respectively. Under these conditions, a high-speedinspection of 200 sec/cm² can be achieved by carrying out a scanningoperation by using an electron beam on the same area of the specimen 13only once instead of carrying out the scanning operation a plurality oftimes.

In the case of the conventional SEM or the conventional lengthmeasurement SEM, the current of an electron beam radiated to a specimenis in the range several pA to several hundreds of pA. Thus, theinspection time per 1 cm² would be several hundreds of hours. For thisreason, the SEM or the length measurement SEM can not substantially beput to practical use for inspection of the entire surface of a specimensuch as a wafer in a fabrication process.

In addition, in the embodiment with the above specifications, in orderto generate a large current of the electron beam and to allow inspectionto be carried out at a high speed, as the electron source 2 of theelectron gun 1, a thermal electric-field emission electron source of adiffusion supply type, that is, an electron source made of Zr/O/W as asource material, is employed. Furthermore, a measurement time of 10 nsecper pixel corresponds to a 100 MHz sampling frequency of the picture. Itis thus necessary to provide a charged particle detector 21 with a highresponse speed commensurate with the sampling frequency of 100 MHz. As acharged particle detector 21 satisfying this requirement, a PIN typesemiconductor detector is employed.

In the case of a specimen exhibiting a characteristic of lowconductivity or no conductivity, the specimen is electrically charged byan electron beam radiated thereto. Since the amount of electrical chargedepends on the acceleration voltage of the electron beam, this problemcan be solved by reducing the energy of the electrons in the beam. In anelectron-beam inspection system based on picture comparison, however, alarge current electron beam of 100 nA is used. Thus, if the accelerationvoltage is reduced, the amount of aberration caused by a space chargeeffect, that is, the amount of spreading of the electron beam in theradial direction, increases so that it is difficult to obtain a 0.08-μmspot size of the electron beam on the specimen. As a result, theresolution is deteriorated.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a relation between the diameter of anelectron beam and the acceleration voltage at an electron beam currentof 100 nA and a specimen radiation energy of 0.5 keV. In the embodimentof the present invention, in order to prevent the resolution fromdeteriorating and changing due to the space charge effect and to obtaina stable 0.08-μm spot size of the electron beam on the specimen, theacceleration voltage is set at a fixed value of 10 kV as shown in FIG.12.

The quality of a picture produced by the present inspection system ismuch affected by the energy of the electron beam radiated to thespecimen. This energy is adjusted in accordance with the type of thespecimen. When inspecting a specimen which is hardly chargedelectrically or when putting emphasis on the contrast of a picture inorder to know an edge portion of a circuit pattern on a specimen, theamount of energy is increased. In the case of a specimen apt to becharged electrically, on the other hand, the amount of energy isdecreased. It is thus necessary to find out and set an optimum radiationenergy of the electron beam each time the type of a specimen to beinspected changes.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an optimum radiation energyof the electron beam radiated to a specimen 13 is set by adjusting anegative voltage applied to the specimen 13, that is, the retardingvoltage, instead of changing the acceleration voltage Vacc. Theretarding voltage can be changed by adjusting the variable decelerationpower supply 14.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing relations between the efficiency ofdetection of secondary electrons expressed in terms of % and theretarding voltage expressed in terms of kV. To be more specific, curve(1) shown in the figure represents a relation for a long focal distancesystem adopted by the embodiment of the present invention whereas curve(2) represents a relation for the TTL system adopted by the conventionalinspection system. As described before, the retarding voltage should bechanged in dependence on the type of the specimen and the retardingvoltage exhibits an effect to accelerate secondary electrons. In thecase of the TTL system, the efficiency of detection of secondaryelectrons varies considerably when the retarding voltage is changed asshown in FIG. 12. In the case of the embodiment of the presentinvention, on the other hand, the efficiency of detection of secondaryelectrons does not vary considerably even if the retarding voltage ischanged. This is because, in the case of the TTL system, secondaryelectrons emanating from a specimen pass through a magnetic field of theobjective lens to be converged thereby and the position of convergencein the axial direction changes with a variation in retarding voltage.The displacement of the position of convergence is the main cause of thebig change in secondary-electron detection efficiency. In the case ofthe embodiment of the present invention, on the other hand, sincesecondary electrons 33 do not pass through the magnetic field of theobjective lens 9, a change in retarding voltage does not have a bigeffect on the efficiency of detection of secondary electrons 33. In thisembodiment, since the rotation of a picture is small and variations insecondary-electron detection efficiency are also small, stabilization ofan inspected picture is brought about as a result.

As described before, secondary electrons 33 emanating from a specimen 13will spread if they are left as they are. Since a retarding voltageaccelerates the secondary electrons 33, putting them into substantiallyparallel beams, however, the efficiency of convergence of the secondaryelectrons 33 is improved. The secondary electrons 33 are then deflectedby means of a defection electric field and a deflection magnetic fieldgenerated by the E×B deflector 18 by an angle of typically 5 degreeswith respect to the center axis of the electron beam 36, hitting thesecondary-electron generating substance 19. The collision of thesecondary electrons 33 with the secondary-electron generating substance19 further generates a large number of second secondary electrons 20. Asa result, the efficiency of detection of secondary electrons is improvedconsiderably by virtue of the parallel beams and the collision of thesecondary electrons 33 with the secondary-electron generating substance19

In an apparatus such as the conventional SEM, charged particlesemanating from a specimen 13 are detected after passing through theobjective lens 9. As described above, this system is referred to as aTTL (through the lens) system. According to the TTL system, by operatingthe objective lens at a short focal distance, the amount of aberrationof the electron beam can be reduced, hence, allowing the resolution tobe increased. In the case of the embodiment of the present invention, onthe other hand, charged particles 33 emanating from a specimen 13 aredetected by the objective lens 9 as shown In FIG. 1. For this reason,the focal distance of the objective lens 9 is set at a large value incomparison with the TTL system. To be more specific, in the case of theconventional TTL system, the focal distance of the objective lens is setat a value of the order of 5 mm. In the case of the embodiment of thepresent invention, on the other hand, the focal distance is set at avalue of about 40 mm. In addition, in order to reduce the amount ofaberration of the electron beam, a high acceleration voltage of 10 kV isused as described earlier.

As a result, according to the embodiment of the present invention, thedeflection width of the electron beam 36 radiated for acquisition of apicture of a specimen 13, that is the width of scanning by using theelectron beam 36, can be set at a large value. In the case of theconventional TTL, for example, the deflection width of the electron beamis set at a value of the order of 100 μm. In the case of the embodimentof the present invention, on the other hand, the deflection width can beset at a value of about 500 μm.

Since the surface of a specimen 13 is not a perfectly plane surface, theheight of the specimen 13 changes when the position of radiation an areaon the specimen 13 to be inspected is moved. It is thus necessary tooperate the objective lens 9 by always adjusting the focal distance tothe surface of the specimen 13 through variation of excitation of theobjective lens 9. In the conventional TTL system, the objective lens isoperated at a short focal distance by strong excitation. With a stronglyexcited objective lens, however, the flow of the electron beam exhibitsa rotation in the horizontal direction accompanying a change in specimenheight. As a result, since the resulting picture also rotates, it isnecessary to compensate the picture for the rotation. In the case of theembodiment of the present invention, on the other hand, the objectivelens 9 is operated at a long focal distance by weak excitation.Typically, the objective lens 9 is excited at IN/ (E)=9 where the symbolI is the current of the objective lens expressed in terms of amperes,the symbol N is the number of turns of a coil employed in the objectivelens 9 and the symbol E is the energy of the electron beam expressed interms of eV. As a result, even if the focal distance is adjusted littleto accompany a change in height of the specimen 13, the rotation of theelectron beam 36 and, hence, the rotation of the resulting picture areso small that they can be ignored, making it unnecessary to compensatethe picture for the rotation.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, secondaryelectrons 33 emanating from a specimen 13 are used for creating apicture. It should be noted that a picture can also be created by usingelectrons reflected by the specimen 13 due to radiation of the electronbeam 36 thereto and scattered on the rear side of the specimen 13 togive yet the same effect.

1. An inspection method for detecting a defect of a specimen by using anelectron beam, said method comprising the steps of: forming a crossoverof the electron beam; determining a beam current of the electron beambased on a signal to noise ratio of an image of the defect and aninspection time; deflecting said electron beam set to at least 100 nAbeam current by taking a crossover as a fulcrum during a flyback periodof a scanning operation; applying a retarding voltage for deceleratingthe electron beam to said specimen; setting an electrode providedbetween the specimen and the crossover at a positive electric potentialas compared with an electric potential of the specimen; and changing themagnitude of said retarding voltage based on the nature of saidspecimen.
 2. An inspection method using an electron beam according toclaim 1, further comprising the steps of: scanning said specimen byusing said electron beam; and detecting charged particles emanating fromsaid specimen and converting said detected charged particles into anelectrical signal.
 3. An inspection method using an electron beamaccording to claim 2, further comprising the steps of: storing pictureinformation conveyed by said electrical signal; comparing a picture withanother by using said stored picture information; and detecting a defectof said specimen.
 4. An inspection method using an electron beamaccording to claim 3, further comprising the step of: continuouslymoving said specimen during said scanning.
 5. An inspection method usingan electron beam according to claim 2, wherein there are generated adeflection electric field for deflecting said charged particles in apredetermined direction and a deflection magnetic field for deflectingsaid charged particles in said direction as well as for cancelingdeflection of said electron beam by said deflection electric field. 6.An inspection method using an electron beam according to claim 2,wherein said charged particles are radiated to a secondary-electrongenerating substance to generate secondary electrons from saidsecondary-electron generating substance.
 7. An inspection apparatus fordetecting a defect of a specimen by using an electron beam, saidapparatus comprising: an electron source for drawing the electron beam,the beam current of the electron beam being determined based on a signalto noise ratio of an image of the defect and an inspection time; aconvergence lens for converging said electron beam so as to form acrossover between said convergence lens and said specimen; an objectivelens for converging said electron beam on the specimen; a blankingdeflector for deflecting said electron beam by taking the crossover asfulcrum during a flyback period of a scanning operation; a scanningdeflector provided inside the objective lens for deflecting saidelectron beam so as to let the electron beam scan the specimen; a powersupply applying a retarding voltage for decelerating the electron beamto the specimen, wherein said power supply applies a magnitude of saidretarding voltage to said specimen based on the nature of said specimen;and an electrode provided between the specimen and the objective lensbeing set at a positive electric potential as compared with an electricpotential of the specimen.
 8. An inspection apparatus using an electronbeam according to claim 7, further comprising: a detector for detectingcharged particles emanating from said specimen and converting saiddetected charged particles into an electrical signal.
 9. An inspectionapparatus using an electron beam according to claim 8, furthercomprising: storage means for storing picture information conveyed bysaid electrical signal; and a comparator for comparing pictures by usingsaid picture information.
 10. An inspection apparatus using an electronbeam according to claim 8, further comprising an electron beam deflectorfor generating a deflection electric field for deflecting said chargedparticles in a predetermined direction and a deflection magnetic fieldfor deflecting said charged particles in said direction as well as forcanceling deflection of said electron beam by said deflection electricfield.
 11. An inspection apparatus using an electron beam according toclaim 8, wherein said charged particles are radiated to asecondary-electron generating substance employed therein to generatesecondary electrons from said secondary-electron generating substance.12. An inspection apparatus using an electron beam according to claim 7,wherein an electrode set at a positive electric potential with respectto said deceleration voltage is provided between said specimen and saidcharged particle detector.